Award-winning strategist Myrte Scheffer felt the spark for entrepreneurship at 2 years old. Years later, at 14, she got her first job as a car polisher. While at the job, she found herself coaching the other employees.
In September 2009, Myrte Scheffer officially started her first business. She was 24 years old. Her decision to split off on her own as a founder came in her last year at University. Mercedes Benz asked her to “do a qualified market investigation for them in specific parts of the Netherlands where I lived.”
It was during that period when Myrte Scheffer decided it was time she started working for herself.
Myrte Scheffer believes that she was put on this world to achieve a bigger purpose motivates her to keep doing her work.
If you ask Myrte Scheffer, she’d tell you that her bigger purpose is to “guide all the (female) aspiring entrepreneurs and leaders on their journey to create an impact in this world.”
This belief came about because Myrte Scheffer noticed that “so much wisdom and talent go wasted because these women are not being supported on the soul, mind, and strategic level.”
This is why Myrte Scheffer started the STAR movement, which stands for “She Triumphs Adversities and Rises.”
With her movement, Myrte Scheffer wants to guide women “back to your authentic self and heal the beautiful STAR you were always meant to be,” and then “build a badass business around that!”
Check out more interviews with star motivators here. You can also watch Myrte Scheffer in conversation here:
Love has no location or limitation. Myrte Scheffer
Jerome Knyszewski: None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Myrte Scheffer: Besides my mom and dad taking care of Tessa unconditionally, Tessa herself and my foster daughter, there is a fourth person who inspired me massively: I call her my second mom.
Unfortunately she also passed away 3 years ago, but she has known me even before I was born. This beautiful wise women, thought me that it’s ok to be me and she understood me on the deepest level.
She was working as a social worker and her mantra was: I see you, I hear you, You are ok.
At one moment, I think I was 10 years old, we were on a family holiday on Tenerife. I “caught” her and her husband kissing in the kitchen. She was wearing a colourful hairband and a beautiful outfit with all kinds of colors.
She was such a beautiful soul. She was so happy. They were so happy. So in love. I still remember that image and I remember thinking: this is what love looks like and this is what I want as well.
Love has no location or limitation.
All the women in my life have showed me that, and that’s exactly the underlying message of this mission: the love for yourself, the decision to take care of yourself and therefore impact others from this place of love.
If you ask me, I strongly believe this is the new way of doing business.
Jerome Knyszewski: Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
Myrte Scheffer: Without a doubt “The Choice” by Dr. Edith Eger.
Internationally acclaimed psychologist Dr. Edith Eger — one of the last remaining Holocaust survivors — tells her unforgettable story in this moving testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of choice in our lives.
At the age of sixteen, Edith Eger, a trained ballet dancer and gymnast, was sent to Auschwitz.
Hours after her parents were sent to the gas chamber, the “Angel of Death,” Nazi officer Dr. Josef Mengele, forced Edie to dance for his amusement — and her survival.
He rewarded her with a loaf of bread that she shared with her fellow prisoners — an act of generosity that would later save her life.
The Choice is a reminder of what courage looks like in the worst of times and that we all have the ability to pay attention to what we’ve lost, or to pay attention to what we still have.” — Oprah
When I was in the darkest of my days, I just lost my twins due to a missed miscarriage (April 2020), there was this one nurse who advised me to read this book. She told me I could withdrawal so much power out of this, to help me through this process.
It changed my life completely.
Once I started reading, I couldn’t stop. Even tough it’s a pretty intense story to read, there were so many valuable learnings and lessons that resonated with me so much.
I decided right there, right then, to take back control of my life. I’ve set myself free from the prison in my own head and I started taking action to turn my life into my desired life.
I decided to start sharing my story in order to help, support and guide other women. Just like Edith, I turned my pain into my power.
It’s been a journey to decide to be this open, however, I feel this is the way to go for me. Not for me, but through me, I hope to inspire a lot of (young) women to overcome difficult situations and to start living the life they truly want and to be(come) the inspirational leader the world needs so desperately!
Link to the book: https://dreditheger.com/the-choice/
Every single day I wake up and go to sleep with only 1 question: what more can I do to empower all female leaders and to further build this movement?
Jerome Knyszewski: How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Myrte Scheffer: I officially started my first business back in September 2009 as early as 23 years old. Since then I gained a lot of knowledge and expertise as I worked with a lot of different people, on different levels, and I saw and guided many organizations in the journey of transformation.
I’ve been a Strategic & Trusted Advisor on board level for years. For companies, municipalities, professional football clubs and also for the Director of the National Football Association in Holland.
I’ve won multiple awards with the (mostly Corporate Social Responsibility) concepts I designed for those parties.
All that experience and knowledge, I now use to make the world a better place with the Global STARS Mission. I live, breath and embody this movement.
Every single day I wake up and go to sleep with only 1 question: what more can I do to empower all female leaders and to further build this movement?
The success (= impact!) is really starting to happen now as we gain more publicity and followers who share the same vision.
And we’re only just getting started… (since February 2021)
Jerome Knyszewski: Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
Myrte Scheffer:
- The idea of having to fit in, to have to follow a certain system to be successful
- Imposter syndrome — Is this really valuable what I’m giving?
- The voices in our own head — our limiting belief that we are not worth it, that we are not good enough, that no one is waiting for our message/business
- Getting stuck in our heads instead of serving from our hearts
- Only focusing on the bigger goal and get so overwhelmed by that, that we are scared to just get started
- And most of all, I believe, that deep down inside, I’d like to believe we are actually scared of our own potential power…
Can you share with our readers what you are doing to help empower women to become founders?
Myrte Scheffer:
- The idea of having to fit in, to have to follow a certain system to be successful: Together we take a deep dive in identifying your true purpose/calling and we create an authentic business/organization (concept) around that.
- Imposter syndrome — “Is this really valuable what I’m giving”: We do deep soul work to heal past pains and empower them on an energetic level.
- The voices in our own voice in our own head: I’ll guide you on your journey by intensive mentoring & coaching around personal development & leadership and together we will quiet those voices and replace them with a fire that can’t be stopped.
- Getting stuck in our heads instead of serving from our hearts: We go back to your core, we work on your purpose and the alignment of that, I will help you to see, seek and serve from a place of purpose.
- Only focusing on the bigger goal and get overwhelmed by that: Time for action: we create a badass business concept and plan to achieve your goals and step by step I will guide you to grow into the best version of yourself and your business/organization.
I’m currently traveling the world to spread my message and at the same time I work with my 1:1 clients on their soul, their spirit (mind) and their strategy. I decided to keep my services very simple, I call it STAR Guidance.
You can choose 3 levels: 3 months, 6–9 months or you can follow my year program: The Ultimate STAR Breakthrough Experience. This is tailored, intensive, unique experience that held 1:1 coaching and mentoring, a fully covered unique retreat in Spain and many tailored options along the way.
I believe that my client is the source of all this and together we craft your unique experience, based on your current situation, your desired outcome, your personality and your needs and desires.
We do deep soul work to heal past pains and empower them on an energetic level.
Jerome Knyszewski: This might be intuitive to you but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
Myrte Scheffer:
- Women are natural creators and we are born to build.
- Women are empathic an able to guide from a place of love and compassion, without losing side of the higher goal.
- Women create from a purpose of contribution instead of cash.
- Women dare to be vulnerable for the higher good.
- Women tend to have a rich past of adversities which are the fuel of many beautiful soul driven companies and organizations.
- Women want to unite rather than compare.
It’s a road of falling and rising, of rejection and redirection and mostly of love and connection (for me). Myrte Scheffer
Jerome Knyszewski: You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Myrte Scheffer: Well, that’s simple: Global STAR Movement of course!
Women are creators. We are the source, the cement and the soul of a lot more than is visible. We are here not only to create something for ourselves, but we also have the united power of building something for the benefit of all women.
However, it’s not a paved road as history showed. It’s a road of falling and rising, of rejection and redirection and mostly of love and connection (for me).
In my journey of coaching, advising and guiding CEO’s on board level, NGO directors ánd purpose driven entrepreneurs I’ve seen and learned a lot about leadership in different industries.
All my experience combined, I decided in september 2020 — in between two lockdowns — to use all my experience to build my own dream: I’m now building my own global coaching business for female entrepreneurs and leaders.
The higher goal/outcome of that is a global movement to help and guide young girls to create a life based on their needs and talents, called Global STARS (She Triumphed Adversities & Rises).
This movement is an outcome of a series of personal adversities I overcame in my life. These are serious topics such as a burn-out, a missed miscarriage, having (and losing) a multi disabled sister, fostering a teenage girl and more.
All my personal and professional experience I use to make sure that no girl or women ever has to feel lost or lonely again.
The first step of that dream was to move from Holland to London so I could start up the formal businesses before Brexit and therefore be able to do business from the UK.
The second step is happening now: I’m currently located in Spain to work on another part of the dream: find and build a physical location where all female entrepreneurs and leaders can come to and work on their soul, spirit (leadership skills) and strategy.
The coming year, within the guidelines of travel of course, I’ll be expanding my network and activities online, offline and on stage to inspire young girls and women all over the world, to actively create and design the life they want.
We are Global STARS — United by Uniquess…
Jerome Knyszewski: How can our readers further follow your work online?
Myrte Scheffer: The following are links to her social media accounts and sites for further reference:
Since the movement just started, we are still in the process of setting up all the proper websites and all social media platforms.
We are currently working really hard on those platforms because we want to reach out and help as many Global STARS as possible — across the globe — so bare with us and in the meantime follow us on:
Corporate (currently under construction)
Jerome Knyszewski: Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
